vRealize Suite

Configure VMware vSAN Monitoring with vRealize Operations 7.0

VMware vRealize Operations 7.0 is a great upgrade to the vRealize Operations solution from VMware. VMware has made tremendous improvements across the board to the product and has positioned it as a cloud aware and hybrid environment tool that is now business intent aware. This allows organizations to have much more intelligence about environments and align infrastructure requirements with the actual business requirements. One of the great improvements overall with vROps 7.0 is the new VMware vSAN 6.7 Update 1 integration and overall vSAN visibility, dashboards, and intelligence that are found in the updated solution. In this quick post, we will take a look at Configure VMware vSAN Monitoring with vRealize Operations 7.0 and see how this is easily enabled on inside of vRealize Operations Manager 7.0 as well as the great dashboards that are already included in the solution. Let’s dive in.

Configure VMware vSAN Monitoring with vRealize Operations 7.0

The first thing you need to do is the obvious.  Browse out to the vRealize Operations 7.0 web interface and login to the solution.

Login-to-VMware-vRealize-Operations-7.0-to-configure-vSAN-Monitoring
Login to VMware vRealize Operations 7.0 to configure vSAN Monitoring

After logging in, you can navigate to Administration > Solutions > VMware vSAN and choose the settings “cog” under the Solutions heading.  This launches a configuration window similar to the configuration of the vCenter Server connection in vRealize Operations 7.0.

Configuring-the-vSAN-Adapter-instance-in-VMware-vRealize-Operations-7.0
Configuring the vSAN Adapter instance in VMware vRealize Operations 7.0

The next order of business is to populate the Basic Settings area of the configuration including vCenter Server and Credential.  Simply fill in the IP or FQDN of your vCenter Server and then add your credentials with the green “+” button or choose them from the drop down menu.

Configure-the-basic-settings-for-vSAN-monitoring-including-vCenter-Server-and-Credentials-in-vROps-7.0
Configure the basic settings for vSAN monitoring including vCenter Server and Credentials in vROps 7.0

Again, this launches the Manage Credential dialog box that is identical to what you use to configure the vCenter Server adapter instance.  Populate your credentials and then click the OK button.

Adding-credentials-for-connecting-to-vCenter-Server-for-vSAN-monitoring-in-vROps-7.0
Adding credentials for connectivity to vCenter Server for vSAN monitoring in vROps 7.0

Under the Advanced Settings, there are several interesting options here including:

  • Collectors/Groups – Determines which vRealize Operations Manager collector is used to manage the adapter process
  • Auto Discovery – Determines whether new objects added to the monitored system are discovered and added automatically after the initial configuration of the adapter.
  • Enable SMART data collection – When set to true enables SMART data collection for physical disk devices.
  • vCenter ID – A globally unique identifier associated with this vCenter instance (VC UUID)
Looking-at-advanced-settings-in-the-vCenter-connection-for-vSAN-monitoring-in-vROps-7.0
Looking at advanced settings in the vCenter connection for vSAN monitoring in vROps 7.0

If you choose to either test or save the configuration, you will be presented with the certificate for the vCenter Server.  Click Accept to accept it and make the connection.

Review-and-accept-the-certificate-presented-in-connecting-to-vCenter-Server
Review and accept the certificate presented in connecting to vCenter Server

Choosing either the Test Connection or Save Settings option.

Testing-or-saving-the-configuration-for-the-vSAN-adapter-instance-in-vRealize-Operations-7.0
Testing or saving the configuration for the vSAN adapter instance in vRealize Operations 7.0

After clicking the Save Settings button, you will see the message indicating the Adapter instance successfully saved.

Saving-settings-for-the-vSAN-adapter-instance-in-vRealize-Operations-7.0-vSAN-monitoring
Saving settings for the vSAN adapter instance in vRealize Operations 7.0 vSAN monitoring

As is the case with the VMware vSphere adapter instance, you should see the Data receiving “Adapter Status” displayed in the Solutions window.  This indicates the VMware vSAN adapter is talking to the vSAN environment.

The-VMware-vSAN-adapter-instance-in-vRealize-Operations-7.0-should-show-data-receiving-after-configuration
The VMware vSAN adapter instance in vRealize Operations 7.0 should show data receiving after configuration

It may take a few minutes for the vSAN Operations Overview Dashboard to start displaying information as is shown below.  It may appear blank for a few minutes.  The dashboard is found under Dashboards > vSAN Operations Overview.

The-vSAN-dashboards-will-take-some-time-to-display-information-from-the-newly-configured-vSAN-adapter-instance
The vSAN dashboards will take some time to display information from the newly configured vSAN adapter instance

After a while you will see the data populated in the environment.  Any hotspots will show up in red as is the case with the Memory Workload widget below.  This provides a really great high-level overview of the vSAN environment including:

  • vSAN clusters
  • Hosts
  • Raw Capacity
  • Remaining Capacity
  • VMs on vSAN Cluster
  • IOPs Served
  • Total Latency
  • Cluster Storage
  • Cluster Compute
  • Cluster Wide IOPs
  • Cluster Wide Avg. Disk Latency
The-VMware-vSAN-Operations-Overview-Dashboard-displaying-statistics-for-VMware-vSAN-environment-in-vROps-7.0
The VMware vSAN Operations Overview Dashboard displaying statistics for VMware vSAN environment in vROps 7.0

A look at the vSAN Capacity Overview Dashboard displaying great information from a forecasting and capacity planning perspective.

vSAN-Capacity-Overview-Dashboard-in-vRealize-Operations-7.0
vSAN Capacity Overview Dashboard in vRealize Operations 7.0

Takeaways

The new VMware vRealize Operations 7.0 solution provides a tremendous amount of features and capabilities for today’s VMware virtualized environments running on-premises or even in hybrid scenarios and with software-defined storage such as vSAN.  The ability to Configure VMware vSAN Monitoring with vRealize Operations 7.0 is super simple and easy and provides instance return by way of automated intelligence based on business intent that is configured for the environment.  The capacity planning dashboard is a great way to forecase usage.  The vSAN Operations Overview provides an instant access glance of the overall performance in the VMware vSAN environment, including hot spots in key performance indicator areas that need attention.  Stay tuned for further posts and insights on vRealize Operations 7.0.

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Brandon Lee

Brandon Lee is the Senior Writer, Engineer and owner at Virtualizationhowto.com and has over two decades of experience in Information Technology. Having worked for numerous Fortune 500 companies as well as in various industries, Brandon has extensive experience in various IT segments and is a strong advocate for open source technologies. Brandon holds many industry certifications, loves the outdoors and spending time with family.

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